breeding salt water fish
- Thread starter photoguyrankin
- Start date
Hi photoguyrankin, and welcome to reefs.org. I moved your topic to the General Reefkeeping forum because it will get allot more replies there than here in the DIY forum. I left a shadow of the thread in the DIY forum so that it will still appear there too. 
I haven't bred any fish myself, so I'll leave that up to other members to discuss.
Good luck!
Louey
I haven't bred any fish myself, so I'll leave that up to other members to discuss.
Good luck!
Louey
Biggest obstacles to my knowledge:
a) getting fish to pair up and providing the right environment and cues to induce spawning.
b) feeding fry - many species that now may spawn in a tank are impossible to get feeding on the few standards (rotifers , new artemia).
c) Fish with extended pelagic planktonic larval stage hard to keep in our closed systems.
There is a breeders registry available where you can read information and experiences from other hobbyists who have intentionally or unintentionally gotten reef animals to spawn.
Off the top of myhead the only ones that are really feasible right now for the hobbyist would be
- Most clownfishes and some damsels
- Some cardinals (mouthbrooders)
- Marine betta (supposedly fry not too hard to raise but sexing them is impossible)
Some other fish will spawn and lay eggs but as for raising them not much being done sucessfully from a hobbyist perspective. Commercially there have been a lot of strides raising many species of gobies and some angels - check ORA for a list of the organisms they sell to get an idea.
a) getting fish to pair up and providing the right environment and cues to induce spawning.
b) feeding fry - many species that now may spawn in a tank are impossible to get feeding on the few standards (rotifers , new artemia).
c) Fish with extended pelagic planktonic larval stage hard to keep in our closed systems.
There is a breeders registry available where you can read information and experiences from other hobbyists who have intentionally or unintentionally gotten reef animals to spawn.
Off the top of myhead the only ones that are really feasible right now for the hobbyist would be
- Most clownfishes and some damsels
- Some cardinals (mouthbrooders)
- Marine betta (supposedly fry not too hard to raise but sexing them is impossible)
Some other fish will spawn and lay eggs but as for raising them not much being done sucessfully from a hobbyist perspective. Commercially there have been a lot of strides raising many species of gobies and some angels - check ORA for a list of the organisms they sell to get an idea.
John_Brandt":3rft5hfj said:
I don't see much incentive since they are so abundant and cheap but I seem to remember Dascyllus sp. and maybe a few Chrysiptera sp. laying eggs. I'm sure you'll correct me regardless John, I haven't done much with attempting to raise saltwater fish since my expensive and fruitless attempts with blue spot jawfish over the last few years.
- Oh forgot to add - Dottybacks have had a pretty good record on captive breeding there is even a book by Mr. Martin Moe called..... 'Breeding The Orchid Dottyback'.
Here is a link to the breeder's registry for the original petitioner:
http://www.breeders-registry.gen.ca.us/
John - I looked in that registry, they have D.auranus, D.trimaculatus and C.cyanea listed as spawning but no record of fry being raised to adulthood.
No, no I'm not going to correct you about the damselfish spawning. They do it all the time, including many more genera than you mentioned. One tank I maintained had 3 different genera of damsels spawning simultaneously.
What prompted my question was that you listed them as being propagated - that is, the larvae had been raised and grown. I'm curious if this has been accomplished with damsels other than clownfish.
What prompted my question was that you listed them as being propagated - that is, the larvae had been raised and grown. I'm curious if this has been accomplished with damsels other than clownfish.
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